Electronic Portfolio Faculty Fellow Program
2008-9 General Education Electronic Portfolio Faculty Fellow Program
Background
In fall 2005, the General Education (GE) committee unanimously approved a proposal to provide students with an electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) as a way to create a more coherent and intentional GE experience and assess learning outcomes of the program as a whole, which has never been done. The Provost was sent a memorandum explaining these and other purposes and potential uses of the portfolio. Funding to add the e-portfolio function and the requisite academic suite to our existing Blackboard (Bb) contract was granted in spring 2006.
In September 2006, the Director of GE formed a committee to begin the first phase of the e-portfolio project, namely, drafting the learning outcomes of the e-portfolio. By December 2006, the e-portfolio committee had finalized the operational definition of one of the five outcomes-Written Communication-and had it approved by the GE committee. A month earlier, the Pacific Seminar 1 faculty members were given a demonstration of the e-portfolio in order to monitor the posting of their students' work in the Written Communication outcome by the end of the semester. Students were provided instructions as well as technical support about how to create and post to their e-portfolio material. This was also the case in the spring for Pacific Seminar 2 faculty members and students.
Between January and April 2007, the e-portfolio committee drafted the four remaining outcomes and submitted them to the GE committee. By July, the GE committee revised and approved the other four outcomes-Critical Thinking, Ethics and Civic Engagement, Intercultural Awareness and Interaction, and Leadership. In fall 2007, the full e-portfolio was rolled out in Pacific Seminar 1, and students received hands-on, formal training on how to create and post to the e-portfolio as well as about its purposes. By the end of the semester, students were required to post in their e-portfolio at least one example of their best written work and a short self-reflection on it. In six of the sections, "portfolio student instructors (PSIs)" were hired to help students with their e-portfolio and to check in on whether the students posted their work.
Proposed Next Steps
Universities have used academic e-portfolios for several years now, but they have only been established in particular units or departments and not across the institution. In fact, as of March 2008, it appears that only Alverno College (a private Catholic women's college located in Milwaukee, WI) has a functioning four-year, university-wide e-portfolio. The successful implementation and sustainment of a four-year GE e-portfolio would thus be a distinctive national achievement and add to Pacific's rising GE reputation. A few institutions have tried to implement a four-year e-portfolio-such as Bellarmine University and the University of Wisconsin at Eau-Claire-but have failed to do so. Portland State University's four-year e-portfolio, held up as a model, was not pervasive and was recently eliminated. In speaking with the these institutions, the Associate Dean and Director of GE learned that the failure of the e-portfolios was due to a lack of wide-spread faculty support and a lack of incentives for students to sustain it. As a result of these facts and meetings about the future of the e-portfolio within the e-portfolio and GE committees, these groups have agreed to implement the four-year portfolio in stages and to create an "E-portfolio Faculty Fellow Program" to educate and support faculty members on the value of the e-portfolio as a teaching and learning tool. The Provost's office has committed $15,000 for FY2009 to support the GE E-Portfolio Faculty Fellow Program. It will be administered through the GE program in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
GE E-Portfolio Faculty Fellow Job Description
The GE committee will award one or two Faculty Fellowships to faculty members to lead the GE Pilot e-portfolio initiative. At a minimum, Fellows will be responsible for the following activities for a one-year, possibly renewable term:
1. Promote the value of using the e-portfolio as a teaching and learning tool through one-on-one and group tutorials as well as through general presentations.
2. Identify faculty in as many departments/units as possible to use the e-portfolio, particularly in GE courses.
3. Create a list of best teaching practices with the e-portfolio based on one's own and others' experiences with it and disseminate among the faculty through the CTL website and presentations.
4. Collaborate with the Director of GE and CTL Director on how to improve the implementation of the e-portfolio in the first-year.
5. Become conversant with the e-portfolio literature and developments.
6. Collaborate with the Assessment office and the CTL in developing assessment tools, including rubrics, philosophy and methods to monitor quality and quantity student participation.
GE E-Portfolio Faculty Fellow Qualifications
The GE e-portfolio faculty fellow must
1. have used the e-portfolio in at least one course;
2. be a tenure-track faculty member with good standing among the faculty;
3. be able to work effectively with individuals and groups of faculty; and
4. have an embracing attitude towards appropriate and meaningful instructional technology.
Application Procedure
Interested faculty must submit a letter of interest that at least addresses their
(1) current level of knowledge of using the e-portfolio in teaching and learning;
(2) perspective on the value of the e-portfolio as a teaching and learning tool; and
(3) brief plan on how they will approach the job responsibilities stated above.
If possible, a plan for measuring the outcomes of the Fellowship is welcomed; however, these will be discussed prior to the beginning to provide guidelines for collecting data to support accomplishments.
Please forward your application letters to Lou Matz at lmatz@pacific.edu <mailto:lmatz@pacific.edu> by May 1, 2008.
Implementation Plan for the Pacific GE E-Portfolio
The current plan is to implement the e-portfolio in four stages.
Stage 1 - FY09
Implement the e-portfolio in the first year experiences through Pacific Seminars 1/2 and revise these courses-and provide the faculty development support-to incorporate the e-portfolio as a teaching and learning tool. Expand the submission of student work to their other first-year courses through the support of orientation, first-year advising, Student Advisor support, and the units. Identify Pacific Seminar faculty members who would be willing to collect data and develop models of assessment.
Stage 2 - FY10
Expand the e-portfolio beyond the first year to the Breadth program and to selected Student Life constituencies working with the staff in Student Life.
Stage 3- FY10
Expand the e-portfolio to various departments in the College through discussions of potential stakeholders and users in each department.
Stage 4 - FY11
Offer the well-structured and supported e-portfolio with associated empirical evidence of success to other units in the university.
